Thinking about taking family over Christmas break to somewhere with snow for a few days. But we're not skiers.

Any ideas? I don't mind going to a ski resort area/town, although would prefer to avoid insane crowds and inflated prices if we're not there for the main attraction.

We'd be interested in other snow activities like sledding, tubing, dog sledding. Hiking or anything involving good scenery if that's possible. Or are there any National Parks that consistently get snow yet aren't essentially shut down/impassable because of it? We've recently done the Utah 5 and Yellowstone/Grand Teton (not in winter).


Thanks!

I already posted on the Christmas town thread, but Telluride is beautiful at Christmas time. Obviously, the skiing is awesome, but the town is cool too.

Oh, oops....redundant thread is redundant. What I get for not reading first...will review it....thanks!

Go to Jackson WY
Doesn't meet your non-$$ criteria but a kick ass place to spend Christmas.
SnowKing resort and get one of their condos - lots to do at the resort itself but extended area is fantastic for a family trip

I posted on the Christmas thread, too…Banff checks all your boxes. We are headed back for our second Christmas visit, and I don't ski (and have zero desire to).

Things we did on our previous trip: snowshoeing in Marble Canyon, ice "hike" in Johnston Canyon (this is not strenuous at all and is absolutely gorgeous), tubing, gondola up to Sulphur Mountain, ice skating and afternoon tea at Lake Louise, the spa at Fairmont Banff Springs (the hotel is a destination unto itself).

The Christmas decorations are all fantastic, too.

Things we are planning to do this trip: snowmobiling (you do have to travel about 90 min away, outside of Banff National Park, to do this), Banff Hot Springs, cross-country skiing.

Other winter activities: biking, Grotto Canyon ice walk, winter hikes (there are certain trails that are maintained all year), dog sledding, sleigh rides.

Go to Banfftours.com to see a good list of all the winter activities available.

Banff is about a 2 hour easy drive from Calgary (roads are good and well-maintained). Scenery is out of this world beautiful. Canmore is also a great little town to stay in, if you are looking for more of an Airbnb/condo accommodation vs a hotel.

Obviously snow is hit or miss in any given year, but the last time we went, the snow was better there than in most places in the US. And we had great weather - highs in the 30s, with little additional snow. As soon as we left, a big freeze came through (we were glad we missed that).

It's less busy/crowded the days before Christmas. Last time, we departed on Christmas Day. This year our travel dates are the 20-27. I'm already planning out activities and looking to make reservations.

Thanks!

Jackson we actually just did on a Yellowstone/Grand Teton trip this past May - we did love it though.

Banff is interesting. That was actually on our list for next summer...just kind of figured it would be otherworldly cold up there and impassable otherwise. Will look into it!

I highly recommend visiting Banff in the summer and winter (we've done both). It's two completely different (and wonderful) experiences.

Like I said, weather is a crapshoot, but I was pleasantly surprised on our last visit. It was a "warm front" by their standards, but there was enough snow on the ground that it didn't matter that temps were slightly above freezing. I don't recall what temps were at night.

The storm that came through after we left was frigid - I think it got into the minus 20s. But best I could tell, things weren't shutting down. I can't recall if it was a big snow event, too, or just brutal cold. But, they know how to manage up there. Relatively speaking, December is still a "mild" month for their weather. Average highs are in the mid-20s, lows still above 0, and only a few days of rain.

I brought a puffy down coat and gloves and was plenty warm (I despise being cold). Didn't need any special gear, and I would usuallly start sweating inside any establishment that was heated. We wore snow pants for the snow shoeing but didn't really need them. They were mainly to stay dry.

When we go to Park City, we usually plan 3 or more non-skiing days (sometimes the kids still ski for a couple hours those days, but I cannot ski for 7 days in a row, I'd be bedridden). Never have trouble filling those days - snowshoeing tours, snowmobiling, sleigh rides, snow tubing, ice castles, dog sledding, shopping, etc are all available in or super close to PC.

I think it's one of the most adorable towns ever at Christmas, and there are endless dining options. We usually stay on Main Street just for the walkability to the lifts for the kids, but there are plenty of lodging options further out from the resort that have nice views and more space to play in snow.

I'll second Park City - we went last season and while I enjoy skiing with my son, the others in our group don't, so we always plan for a day or two to do other activities. We enjoyed the snow tubing at Woodward, went snowmobiling, sledding and even saw some others enjoying dog sledding.
We also toured the Olympic Park and watched others bobsled and downhill skiing, this was a highlight!

We're going back in February and I think I'm looking forward to the non-ski activities just as much as skiing.

Breckenridge/Frisco/surrounding areas of Colorado had some great snow activities too. If you're driving, I think these are great but flying into DEN and then having to drive hours is not my favorite.

Obviously, anything over Christmas break is going to be spendy so book now (I'm tent camping in Big Bend again this year).

I'm going to assume crazy destinations like Japan and Switzerland are off the list.
Apart from Summit County, Colorado, or Park City, Utah as already mentioned, my recommendations are:

• Lake Tahoe - they've got plenty of non-skiing activities. They are super serious about chain laws so be sure to take that into account when flying in and renting a car. They can also get ridiculous amounts of snow in a single snowfall event but, it doesn't happen that often.
• Snowshoe, West Virginia - they've got some non-skiing activities but mostly, it's an interesting journey that most folks from Texas would never know existed (I had an Army buddy who graduated from VMI take me there the first time).
• Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, Alaska - obviously going to be "cold as" in December but there's plenty to do around and I strongly recommend taking a trip over to Whittier via the tunnel. And if you're really adventuresome, taking the ferry on the Alaska Marine Highway over to Valdez and/or Cordova will change your life if you've never seen glaciers and icebergs and wildlife up close. Full disclosure - I lived in Valdez for 3 years when I was a kid so I'm a bit of a homer in that respect.